Flue-cleaner



(No Model.)

J. E'HRLIGH.

I BLUE CLEANER. No. 407,856... Patented July 30, 1889.

Fig.1.

WITNESSES: JNVENTOR' JEhr-liah ffm N. PETERS. FhckwLulhngl-iaphuv, Wuhingion. D. C.

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OI-IANNES EHRLICH, OF MARION, KANSAS.

FLU E-CLEAN ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 407,856, dated July 30, 1889.

Application filed April 20, 1889- $crial No. 307,949. (No model.)

T0 at whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JoHAnNEs EHRLicH, of Marion, Marion county, Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Flue-Cleaners, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

This invention relates to certain improvements in flue-cleaners for boilers; and it consists of the novel combination of parts and their construction, as will fully appear from the following description and accompanying illustrations, inwvhich Figure 1 is a partly side elevation and partly sectional view showing the application of my improved fluecleaner for use. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my flue-cleaner, and Fig. 3 is a partly side elevation and partly sectional view of the same.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a suitable support 0, preferably a rod, which has at its outer or one end a hand-hold d, is offset, as at d, about midway of its length, and has at its opposite end a steam-chamber D. The steam-chamber D is preferably in the form of a pipe-section and has a nozzleconnection g with the support 0, and a like connection 0 with a valve-chamber f, having a pipe-nozzle connection with a hose-pipe 1', leading to the steam-chamber ofthe boiler. In the chamber f is a valve,(not shown,) which is normally held closed under the action of a spring and opened by the manipulation of a hand-lever. A suitable packing K of rubber is applied to a circular shoulderor flange K upon the chamber D, which thus fits steamtight against the boiler around the edge of the flue, a portion of the chamber or pipe D extending beyond said flange or shoulder and entering the flue.

C is adisk or piston which normally stands at one end of the chamber or pipe D, and is connected to a wire B, which acts in the capacity of a piston -rod for said piston. This wire or piston-rod has a portion of its length or surface coiled around a sheave or drum A, which is hung in the recess at the offset (1 of the support 0 by means of a shaft a, bearing or journaled in and between two plates 1) 11, secured to said support. The drum or sheave A, however, is not fast upon the shaft 0, but revolves independently of it, and within a chamber of said drum or sheave opening at one side thereof is a coiled or tension spring A, one end of which is connected to the shaft a, while its other end is connected to the drum or sheave.

The wire B as it is unwound from the drum or sheave A coils the spring A, of course, and puts it under tension, the force of which is exerted upon the drum or sheave. Consequently upon the out or forward stroke of the piston which unwind's the wire B, turning the drum or sheave therewith, the wire will be strained. The piston C does not fit the flues of the boiler steam-tight, thereby permitting exhaust to take place past said piston when the steam-valve is closed and the back-stroke is being made.

The steam-chamber or pipe D has applied to its outer end around the wire B a stuflingbox 6, to prevent the leakage of steam thereat.

The piston O is adapted to permit of the attachment thereto, as at 'm, of a brush or other suitable means for cleaning purposes.

Having the cleaner adjusted or disposed in alignment with or applied to a flue of the boiler and its outer end grasped and held by one hand of the operator, as disclosed in Fig. 1, the steam is let into the chamber or pipe D by opening the valve of the chamber f, when the incoming steam-pressure will drive or impart to the piston O a forward or out stroke, carrying with it the brush, which, it is obvious, will have the effect to more or less clean the interior of the flue during such movement. The valve-chamber f, being held open until the piston has completed its forward stroke, is then closed,immediatelyafterwhich the action of the spring A, having, as has been explained, been put under tension during the forward stroke of the piston, will impart to the piston its return-stroke, and thus again subject the flue to the cleaning action of the brush, the steam being exhausted upon the back-stroke by leakage past said piston, as it is obvious that a tight joint between the piston and the flue is not necessary. This operation, which is kept up as long as required simply by the operator opening and thus momentarily holding the steam-valve at intervals, is repeated until the flue has received the required cleaning.

Of course all the fiues can be similarly treated, the cleaner being moved from one to the other.

Prior to my invention in flue-cleaners having a steam-actuated piston and brush or scraper a coiled chain and retractile spring were located in the steam-ehamberof the device, and it was necessary to apply said chamber directly to the fines of the boiler, which steam, enveloping the said spring and its connections, was evidently the occasion of considerable loss by reason of condensation of the steam contained in said chamber during operation. The particular advantage of my construction is that the steam is directly conducted to the flues'of theboiler Without having to pass through any such large condensing-chamber, thereby obviating condensation, which would otherwise occur, it being evident that I make connection between my piston O and the retractile spring and its sheave A by means of the hereinbefore-described flexible piston-rod B, making use of a stuffing-box between the steam-chamber and the sheave; also, by providing such form of handlewhich I have the device may be very readily manipulated.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The flue-cleaner combining the steamchamber having a valved steam-supply connection, a stuffing-box, a piston carrying a brush or cleaner, the support or handle connected to said steam-chamber, a spring-retracted drum or sheave carried by said handle and located at a distance and separate from said steam-chamber, and a flexible piston-rod having one end connected to said drum or sheave and the other passing through the stuffing-box on said steam-chamber and being connected to said piston, substantially as set forth.

2. The flue-cleaner consisting of the rod or handle having at one end a hand-hold and an offset at about the middle of its length, a steam-chamber mounted upon the end opposite said hand-hold and having a valved steamsupply connection, a stuffing-box,a piston carrying a brush or cleaner, the drum or sheave having coiled therein a spring engaging said drum, and a shaft upon which said drum or sheave independently revolves, said drum or sheave being located in the said offset of the rod or handle, plates connected to said rod forming bearings for said shaft, and the wire piston-rod passed through said stuffing-box on the steam-chamber and connected to said piston, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

JOHANNES EHRLIOH.

WVitnesses:

CHAS. L. DEAN, T. M. HosEA. 

